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Avinash Mokashe

Avinash Mokashe was born in 1968 in Andoor, Maharashtra. He graduated with a degree in Painting from Sangli and got his Diploma in Art Education from the J J School of Art in 1992. He was the recipient of the Art Society of India Award in 1996 and 1997, the Maharastra State Award in 1992, and the V. V. Oak Smruti Poona Awards in 1992 and 1993.

Avinash is a highly skilled painter, particularly well known for his portraits. His works are marked by their vibrancy and colour, a certain ethnicity of the subject matter, a subtle poetry, linear elegance and undeniably the individualist trace of the artist in terms of his brushwork and the theme that he chooses to work with.The paintings are not provocative, rather contemplative, evoking the presence of the sacred with his visual vocabulary that engages either male or female figures in half bust size with eyes closed or in a meditative gaze or with a distant look, which contours his compositions with simplicity.

In the words of the artist: “The face is the index of the mind. My paintings portray the mirror to the world that is face,which expresses every emotion of life.Each change in the natural surrounding createsa change in the facial expression.Thus, a person with spiritual life style will expressinner peace of mind on the face,I have tried to capture these expressions on to canvas.”

There is rarely any sadness or melancholy in Avinash’spaintings. This is partly due to the colour palette that he uses, favouring bright and vibrant shades with a strong folk resonance to more subdued or earthy shades.The female forms also evoke sentiments of nostalgia through closed eyes and a charming smile liltingly playing on their lips. As he has progressed with this genre, Avinash has moved away from his mottled and abstract coloured backgrounds to portray houses and other elements of daily life from his hometown.